VerSe Innovation, parent company of the popular news aggregator Dailyhunt, and the short video app Josh, announced on Thursday that it raised more than $450 million in a fresh financing round. This comes just five months after the Indian startup secured $200 million.Siguler Guff and Baillie Gifford, affiliates Carlyle Asia Partners Growth II, and other investors, funded VerSe Innovations Series 1 round. Existing investors Sofina Group and Qatar Investment Authority participated.VerSe Innovation stated in a statement that the startup's valuation has more than doubled over the past five month without disclosing any specific figure. In its Series H financing round, the startup was valued at more than $1 billion. Update: VerSe Innovations' valuation has risen to $3 billion, according to a source familiar with the matter.Google-backed startup Josh claimed that the app has over 115 million active monthly users. 56 million of these people use it each day. Dailyhunt claims it has more than 300 million active monthly users.Josh is competing with scores of short-video apps, including Moj and MX TakaTak. These apps exploded after India banned TikTok in mid-2020 due to cybersecurity concerns. ByteDances identified India as the largest international market and had attracted over 200 active users monthly.Moj, which has over 100 million users, was launched by Tiger Global-backed ShareChat, which was revealed last month at $2.88 Billion in a funding round. According to three sources, MX TakaTaks parent company MX Player is currently seeking investors to raise a round to value the startup at more than $1 billion.VerSe Innovation plans to build a suite of apps that can be used in dozens of languages. Dailyhunt offers content in 14 languages, thanks to more than 100,000 content creators and partners. VerSe Innovation stated that Dailyhunt plans to continue this strategy in order to grow internationally.According to the startup, it plans to also invest in expanding its AI/ML stack to provide users with a more personal experience.This new fundraise is coming at a time when Indian startups have been raising record capital from high profile investors. India is the second-largest internet market in the world, with over 20 unicorns being created this year. This compares to 11 last year and 6 in 2019. Some investors have increased their focus on South Asia after China, which is the second largest internet market in the world, produced more than 20 unicorns this year.This is an ongoing story. There will be more to come.
